FOOTBALL: Hightstown's DeCristofaro takes home defensive back honor from TD Club

For The Trentonian/ JOHN BLAINE
The TD Club Week 4 winners from left to right (back row): Hamilton’s Gabe Deguzman, Lawrenceville’s Randall West and WW-P South’s Tom Efsathios. From left to right (front row): Hightstown’s Joe DeCristofaro and Lawrence’s Jordan Fleming.

WEST WINDSOR — Hightstown coach Pete Brescia accidentally walked intothe pregame speech delivered by senior defensive back Joey DeCristofarobefore the Rams’ game against Notre Dame this past weekend, and theexperience turned out to be a bit more than he bargained for.

“It almost brought me to tears, swear to god,” Brescia said. “He’s wastalking about how hard the kids worked to get to this point, what thegame meant to us in terms of our season, what it meant to himpersonally, and what the season meant to our seniors—none of whom haveever had a winning season. That was theme, and it was moving.”

Though Hightstown ended up losing a hard-fought battle, 19-16,DeCristofaro backed up his words with a dominant defensiveperformance, recording 14 tackles and a forced fumble. That effort wasgood enough to earn him a trip to the Mercer County Marina, where hewas honored by the 12th Man Touchdown Club Tuesday night.

Advertisement

“He’s the leader of the defense, he’s a captain, and he’s a phenomenalkid off the field,” Brescia said.

The Rams defense has been extremely solid all season, allowing justover 11 points per game this season. Like all good leaders, however,DeCristofaro is quick to acknowledge the effort of those around him.

“Our defensive line, I give them so much credit,” he said. “They eatup lots of blocks. I’ll be heading for a hole and then just watch oneof them make a tackle before the running back gets to the line ofscrimmage.”

Had Notre Dame’s Nico Sferra not scored the game’s winning touchdownwith less than two minutes to play, Hightstown would be sitting at 3-1instead of 2-2. The way the Rams fought against the Irish, however,has raised some impressed eyebrows, though DeCristofaro never doubtedhis team could compete.

“At the beginning of the year, I felt confident going up against anyteam, regardless of who it was,” he said. “That’s not me being cocky.It’s me being confident.”

Brescia echoed that confidence.

“I believe that we can,” he said, when asked if his team could competewith anyone in the county. “This sounds stupid, but if you threw ablanket over the scoreboard everyone would have left thinking we won,but we didn’t. Now it’s a question of dealing with the adversity andlining up to play Steinert.”

As a senior, DeCristofaro isn’t quite sure what his plans are aftergraduation. He has a couple of colleges in mind, but hasn’t ruled outthe possibility of taking a prep year — potentially right near home atPeddie. He also plays lacrosse and wrestles and said that he’d love toget the opportunity to play one of his three sports in college, thoughhe said academics will be more of a priority when choosing his futureschool.

After witnessing his pregame motivational speech, Brescia can’t be toosurprised at one of the fields DeCristofaro is considering majoringin.

Psychology.

TD CLUB PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Offensive Back — Randall West, Lawrenceville: The Big Red quarterback completed 18 of 29 passes for 314 yards and five touchdowns in a 48-14 win over Pennington. He also rushed for 140 yards and a touchdown.

Offensive Lineman — Gabe Deguzman, Hamilton West: This two-year starter at center returned from an injury last week to anchor the Hornets’ line in their 34-0 thrashing of Princeton.

Defensive Back — Joey DeCristofaro, Hightstown: Although the Rams fell to Notre Dame, 19-16, it was no fault of DeCristofaro, who had 14 tackles and a forced fumble.

Defensive Lineman — Jordan Fleming, Lawrence: He made 10 tackles (five for loss) and a sack for the Cardinals in a 49-15 victory over Ewing.

Special Teams — Tom Efsathios, WW-P South: Punted twice with a 41-yard average as well as blocked a punt for the Pirates in a 32-20 win over Northern Burlington.